Katz’s with catches: Famed pastrami coming to South Florida

The famed pastrami sandwich from Katz's Delicatessen is coming to South Florida* (*with lots of conditions.)

First the news: The famed pastrami sandwich from New York’s Katz’s Delicatessen is coming to South Florida. For a limited time only (Sept. 9-12). In a bag. Only through UberEats. And only with the combined purchase of a Cuban sandwich from La Carreta Cuban restaurants. And only in La Carreta’s UberEats delivery zones, which includes much of Miami-Dade and parts of Davie, Cooper City, Hollywood, Miramar and Pembroke Pines, but not the rest of Broward County or Palm Beach County.

Now the editorializing: Oy vey, this promotion is even worse for traditionalists than putting Katz’s pastrami on pizza (a partnership with Miami restaurateur Michael Schwartz’s pizzerias the past two years that actually was pretty good). Pastrami with the compulsory purchase of pork? I’m not sure my rabbi would approve.

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The restriction-laden promotion, part of a four-city UberEats tour that Katz’s announced this week (Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston are the others) is sure to be uber-frustrating for legions of transplanted New Yorkers and Katz’s fans in the southern Borscht Belt of Palm Beach County, a/k/a Boca Raton and Delray Beach.

On the bright side, it’s a pretty good deal. For $18.95 (plus UberEats’ delivery fee), customers will get a Katz’s “make-a-pastrami" sandwich kit AND a La Carreta Cuban sandwich (with ham, roasted pork, cheese, pickles and mustard). The Katz’s kit includes roughly three-quarters of a pound of pastrami (hand-sliced in a plastic pouch that should be steamed or quickly boiled to loosen), rye bread and a small jar of spicy deli mustard. That’s cheaper than what a standard pastrami sandwich costs ($22.45) at the original Katz’s Delicatessen in lower Manhattan.

On the not-so-bright side, the deal is not available for walk-in customers at La Carreta, a regional chain with nine locations (including Miramar and Pembroke Pines). So if you’re out of their UberEats delivery zones, you’re out of luck.

According to its website, the La Carreta locations in Broward deliver from Griffin Road to County Line Road and from State Road 7/441 to Flamingo Road, and the 33027 zip code in Miramar.

Some options for Katz’s fans in the rest of Broward and Palm Beach:

Drive to a friend’s house in the delivery zone and give them half the sandwich (or the Cuban sandwich).

Drive to a public lot or building (i.e., library or city hall) in the delivery zone and order your sandwich from there.

Order through Katz’s online nationwide delivery system, with purchases over $100 shipped for free via 2-day package service (on dry ice). Among the options: the $135 “I’ll Have What She’s Having Package,” a salute to the famous Katz’s scene from “When Harry Met Sally.”